For nearly a decade, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been considering how and to what extent to regulate the environmental health and safety aspects of nanoscale materials within the framework of existing laws. EPA now appears primed to propose an information collection and use pre-authorization review rule applicable to all nanomaterials as a class.

To now, EPA nanomaterial regulation has been conducted on a case-by-case, chemical-by-chemical basis as particular nanomaterials have come to market and triggered regulatory reviews under existing law applicable to any chemical. Most regulatory action to date has been conducted under 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), a key oversight statute that authorizes EPA to review and, if appropriate, to regulate the lifecycle risks of new chemicals, and to regulate by rule significant new uses of existing chemicals (called ‘significant new use rules’ or SNURs).